Amazon statement defending the Muse block
Amazon spokesperson, in a statement to reporters
“We think it's fairly straightforward that third-party applications that offer to make purchases on behalf of customers from other businesses should operate openly and respect service provider decisions about whether or not to participate.”
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
GeekWire report that Amazon blocked Meta's Muse personal AI agent from shopping on Amazon.com, with Amazon's stated reasons (no advance notice, no self-identification, credential handling), the text of the popup shown to users, Meta's response about credential storage, and the companies' prior contacts before the block.
Before the quotation
Users attempting to shop on Amazon.com with Meta's Muse agent began seeing a popup that said continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon's Conditions of Use.
After the quotation
Meta disputes the credential claim, saying Muse has no visibility into passwords or payment methods. Amazon said it was in direct conversation with Meta and declined to comment on possible legal action.
How this statement is classified
Case context: Should Amazon be allowed to block Meta's Muse agent from shopping on its site?
The label describes this statement’s response within the context above.
Why this label?
Amazon is the party that imposed the block and gives its reasons for it, which we record as defending the action.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Meta Platforms
Should Amazon be allowed to block Meta's Muse agent from shopping on its site?
Explore the case context, sources and public responses.
More from this case
Read the full case“This is bigger than a dispute over bot detection or website access. We are moving toward a world where agents will increasingly act as our representatives online. The companies that control the rules of access will have enormous influence over whether those agents actually work for the consumer.”Read statement
“It is only a matter of time before there is an Apple and Google version of Muse and possibly TikTok, in addition to the frontier LLM agents. Every app that is a services, marketplace or commerce app will need to existentially decide to open [Application Programming Interfaces] for consumer agents to interact. Smaller players have no choice. Either the consumer benefits or distribution aggregators will demand a higher transaction fare.”Read statement
Meta Platforms
“Muse "has no visibility into people's passwords or payment methods," and credentials a user shares "go into secure storage, so Muse can use them without seeing them, including passwords a person types into the browser themselves."”Read statement